Amid the end game of trying to craft some form of energy & climate bill that has a shot of passing the U.S. Senate, which seems stalled in the face of what looks likely to be the hottest year in recorded weather history, the electrical utilities (and fossil foolish interests, e.g., coal) are trying to get a ‘deal’ for “relief” from enforcement of basic Clean Air Act (CAA) provisions to secure their agreement to (very weakened) steps to reduce US carbon emissions.

NOTE / CHANGE OF SUBJECT: Sigh … I, for one, won’t be at Netroots Nation … for the first time. Many reasons driving this but, the straw that broke the camel’s back: trying to keep the carbon footprint from swelling. In any event, if given the chance, here are two questions to ask Senator Reid:

1. You have clearly stated your understanding that “coal makes us sick”. Will you commit to not allowing coal-burning utilities a continued pass on requirements to reduce mercury and and other poisons in their emissions?

2. You have closely aligned yourself with “your friend, T Boone Pickens” and are promoting his desire for large government investment for expanding natural gas transportation. Have you had any independent organization do an analysis of the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of such a NGV program? If so, will you release it? If not, why not? And, associated, have you had an analysis done of the cost effectiveness for the taxpayer of such a program compared to other options for reducing our oil dependency?

NOTE: RE #2, I know of no such analysis re total GHG nor of the relative costs to the taxpayers of various options. My calculations suggest that a massive investment in natural gas vehicles would be a pretty bad deal for the planet and the taxpayer. On this, see CAP’s American Fuel: Contaminated on so many levels.